Match Thread Leicester v Valencia (friendly)

[Volpone]

Morgan looked to be limping when he went off last night. Hamstring?
Regardless, I'd love to see Darnell Johnson with Harry Maguire. DJ was absolutely immense last night.

 

[consty]

I’m not as pessimistic as many on here after what I saw last night, there were some positives. Nndi stood out & Nacho looked very good too & was oozing confidence with clever flicks, general play & of course his goal.

Maddison did not disappoint & was busy & creative. BUT the defence is definitely a cause for concern. Whilst the short-comings of Benny & Morgan are well-known, in my opinion Chillwell for all his promise & potential is also (currently) still a liability. Inside 15 minutes from kick off he gave the ball away twice in very dangerous positions. I’m sure that in the PL both would’ve resulted in a goal. It looks to me as if Puel has Chillwell ahead of Fuchs which I think is a big mistake. Yes Fuchs is slow, but he’s more solid & less prone to fatal errors than Chilwell. He’s a wily old Fox & more reliable.

The new right back looked ok & there was a particularly sweet attack in the 2nd half involving him & (if memory serves me right), Albrighton.

Bringing on all the kids in the last half an hour was interesting & a chance to make something of themselves.

Darnell Johnson at centre back immediately caught the eye & just simply looked the part. This kid will be great & we must keep him, I heard that he may leave. Even so, I don’t think any manager would throw him in at Old Trafford I’m afraid we’re stuck with ‘experience’ so that means Benny at Old Trafford.

Of the other kids who came on, (apologies for not remembering names & this will only mean something to those who were there), the no.19 & 37 looked promising to me with confidence in themselves that didn’t look misplaced. The right winger however looked too slow & the left winger wearing no.4 was involved a lot without making that much of an impact. He might be one for the future but as I said, 19 & 37 looked exciting prospects to me.

What else? Amarty looked assured & a very able deputy for the new right back. Albrighton was decent seemed to be helping his right back too much in the first half but attacked well in the 2nd half until he made way for the youngsters to have a go.

Ibbora disappointed me in the first half, looked marginally better in the 2nd when he had more responsibility following the substitution of Nndi, though he too soon was substituted.

Silver tried very hard when he came on & was very involved. Looks to be behind Ibora in Puels pecking order (it’s a given that Nndi is one of the 1st names on the team sheet) but I think if Ibora doesn’t step up to the plate & up his game Silva can & should replace him. Cover for injury as well.

Unfortunately even if the attack and the midfield are good, it’s (literally) pointless if we have Chilwell making fatal errors & Morgan losing his man most of the time. For Utd of course we have the absurdly delicious prospect of them being joined by Benny.

Shame about the last facts above because there are some VERY good players in that team and some very exciting youngsters knocking at the door too.

 

[Miles Away]

Elvis Evans?

The implication wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest fwiw

 

[Miles Away]

I don't think I've ever seen us so hopelessly undercooked and underprepared for a season as we are now

The post Premier League win season was notable for us fart-arsing around the world instead of operating a proper pre-season programme, but this one appears to be so hopelessly uncoordinated and aimless that it simply beggars belief.

We are eight days away from kicking off the season away at Old Trafford, and we look like a group of pub players who have never met each other before and have received no instruction whatsoever as to how to play the game

I’ve never felt more certain that we are ****ed in my entire city watching life.

 

[pork pie fox]

I’ve never felt more certain that we are ****ed in my entire city watching life.

Really? More than when we were festering around the bottom of the Championship, with a knowledge that it would (and ultimately did) end up with relegation to League One?

I know there are things people are unhappy about, but come on, it's surely not reached those depths (yet).

 

[homer]

I’ve never felt more certain that we are ****ed in my entire city watching life.

Errm....

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/sep/13/newsstory.leicestercity

 

[H T B]

I’ve never felt more certain that we are ****ed in my entire city watching life.

How old are you, 5 months?
In all the bollox I've read on this forum.....

 

[Miles Away]

Really? More than when we were festering around the bottom of the Championship, with a knowledge that it would (and ultimately did) end up with relegation to League One?

I know there are things people are unhappy about, but come on, it's surely not reached those depths (yet).

It’s the certainty with which I feel it more than the actual level of ****ed we are. We’ve definitely been in much worse trouble before (we never looked like staying up under Bassett, the Megson Sousa Holloway debacle) but I’ve never been more certain that disaster looms comparative to expectations.

The only thing that feels close is Taylor’s summer prior to Bolton. It’s about what we will do with the expectation, opportunity and resources we have. In some of the prior debacles we’ve been on the bones of our arse. Not so now.

 

[pork pie fox]

It’s the certainty with which I feel it more than the actual level of ****ed we are. We’ve definitely been in much worse trouble before (we never looked like staying up under Bassett, the Megson Sousa Holloway debacle) but I’ve never been more certain that disaster looms comparative to expectations.

The only thing that feels close is Taylor’s summer prior to Bolton. It’s about what we will do with the expectation, opportunity and resources we have. In some of the prior debacles we’ve been on the bones of our arse. Not so now.

The 06/07 season for me.

I know we ultimately survived, but we went down the following year and it felt as if there was no way out. We were shite, didn't have a pot to piss in and had an awful collection of players, under the stewardship of Rob Kelly and then Nigel Worthington.

Our starting lineup for the first match of the season was:
13. Paul Henderson
2. Alan Maybury
4. Darren Kenton
5. Patrick McCarthy
7. Iain Hume
8. Gareth Williams
10. Andy Johnson
11. Danny Tiatto
12. Matt Fryatt
15. Nils-Eric Johansson
17. Richard Stearman

I know you're going down the "relative" scale of being ****ed, but that was absolute, not relative.

 

[City Fan]

Without Mahrez we have a weaker team than we had last season, which is worrying seeing as we spent the last 4 months of the season in relegation form.

I’m a firm believer that the form at the end of the preceding season is important for the following season. As it showed with us in 14/15 into 15/16 in a positive away, and as it showed with Crystal Palace and West Brom in 16/17 into 17/18 in a very negative way.

I don’t think we’ll get relegated as we’ll ultimately sack the manager again and throw money at signings in January, but I have no doubts that by the first international break we’ll be in the bottom 5 and managerless.

 

[pork pie fox]

Without Mahrez we have a weaker team than we had last season, which is worrying seeing as we spent the last 4 months of the season in relegation form.

I’m a firm believer that the form at the end of the preceding season is important for the following season. As it showed with us in 14/15 into 15/16 in a positive away, and as it showed with Crystal Palace and West Brom in 16/17 into 17/18 in a very negative way.

I don’t think we’ll get relegated as we’ll ultimately sack the manager again and throw money at signings in January, but I have no doubts that by the first international break we’ll be in the bottom 5 and managerless.

That is basically how I feel. Apart from the "I have no doubts" bit - I've long realised that I know SFA and just to roll with it.

 

[homer]

 

[Skitzo]

I've felt for a long time that far too many of our players were satisfied to simply give the ball to Riyad and wait rather than take responsibility, now they have to take it upon themselves, maybe we won't get one players that replaces Riyad but if 2 or 3 share it between them we could be better off

 

[londonfox]

It is unconscionable to think that we are/could be in any way better off for the loss of Mahrez.

 

[pork pie fox]

It is unconscionable to think that we are/could be in any way better off for the loss of Mahrez.

Exactly. This is what I was trying to say earlier.

 

[H T B]

It is unconscionable to think that we are/could be in any way better off for the loss of Mahrez.

Believable though

 

[bocadillo]

And don't you feel so much better for it.
A song most of us could relate to in our younger days

...but not that young.

 

[camberwell fox]

I’m a firm believer that the form at the end of the preceding season is important for the following season. As it showed with us in 14/15 into 15/16 in a positive away, and as it showed with Crystal Palace and West Brom in 16/17 into 17/18 in a very negative way.

That’s called cherry picking. So what about the start of our 16/17 season?

 

[City Fan]

That’s called cherry picking. So what about the start of our 16/17 season?

I would call that an abnormality.

 

[camberwell fox]

I would call that an abnormality.

Yes, YOU would.